Wednesday’s sports snowballs
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-Kickoff for the Virginia Tech-Alabama opener on Aug. 31 will be at 5:30 p.m. Do you like that? What’s your ideal kickoff time for a marquee game like this?
-Mike London says UVa will recommit to the running game under new coordinator Steve Fairchild.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
-The Hokies trail by three at halftime before getting thrashed at Duke, 85-57. With one game left in the regular season, Tech is the lone ACC team with only four conference wins. There’s a chance the 5-12 game could pit the Hokies against UVa in the first round of next week’s conference tournament.
-Berman has a feature on William Fleming grad Troy Daniels, who’s become one of the nation’s top 3-point threats at VCU.
-Radford falls in 60-58 overtime to Winthrop, eliminating the Highlanders from the Big South tournament.
-Berman has a feature on UVa radio analyst Ted Jeffries.
-Boston College wins at Clemson.
-North Carolina plays at Maryland tonight, while Miami hosts Georgia Tech.
-No. 2 Indiana loses to Ohio State.
-Fisticuffs! The Notre Dame-St. John’s game turns ugly late.
STATE SEMIFINALS
-The Salem boys get a technical foul before the game even starts, but recover nicely to beat Potomac Falls 76-69 and advance to Saturday’s Group AA Division 4 title game.
-Robert has a feature on Kim Migliarese and Shannon Dishaw — two defensive standouts for the Salem girls, who face Loundon County at 11 a.m. today in Richmond.
-Bassett’s girls are eliminated by Courtland 64-53.
BASEBALL
-Mark Teixeira pulls out of the World Baseball Classic with a strained forearm.
-Red Sox prospect Drake Britton, who spent parts of the past two seasons in Salem, gets arrested on DUI and reckless driving charges.
NAME THAT TUNE
And to love a god
And to fear a flame
And to burn a crowd that has a name
And to right or wrong
And to meek or strong
It is known; just scream it from the wall
I’ve willed, I’ve walked, I’ve read
I’ve talked, I know, I know,
I’ve been here before…
March 6, 2013 - 7:42 AM
Not that I want the Hokies to lose to WF…but I’d find it funny if we did lock up the 12 seed, played UVA in the ACC tournament, and bounced them the first day, keeping them out of the NCAA’s. Probably won’t happen, but I’d laugh if it did.
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When I checked in early and saw that the Hokies were hanging tough, I thought…hey, maybe they have a chance. Then I checked in during the second half and saw they were down 6…I thought, well, that’s still not too bad considering…they have a chance. That’s when it was 53-47. Duke outscored them 32-10 over the last 12:30…so when I saw the final, I had to do a bit of a double take.
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Green did his part…but the defense was abysmal again. Even if VT shot 50% from the floor and beyond the arc, plus 80% from the stripe, they still lose by nearly double digits. The lack of overall team talent has reared its ugly head several times this year, especially against tougher ACC competition. About the only good thing I can say generally, is at least they can’t lose 20 games.
Live-Selling the Drama
The good news about Tech baskebal is that the season is almost over and Tech fan suffering will end soon. But, as this blog proves, complaining about the program will go on throughout the summer until the complaining about football season begins.
Troy Daniels has really stepped up his game this season. VCU should get an at large bid, if they don’t win the A-10. They could be a Sweet 16 team in the right bracket.
If you go to Atlanta, 5:30 should be the perfect kickoff time. Tailgate all afternoon, sit in a stadium after the August sun has lost its meanness, and have a full Saturday night to party in the capital of the southeast. Or, if you’re an old Hokie like me, you have just enough left in the tank to find the hotel and crash. What is “primetime” on Saturdays? The networks gave up on Saturday night back when most of us still had B&W TVs. Real college football fans want to at least sample games starting at noon and going to bedtime. NC ‘Bama will draw fans to ESPN during a minor lull in the day. I fine with 5:30 watching from home or while visiting another Hokie.
Yahoo has an interesting story on Peter Lalich the former UVA QB.
http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201303/reputation-rebuilt-former-prep-stars-uncommon-road-cusp-nfl
Thanks, O.G. The coach quote suggests he’s figured some things out. Good to hear.
It was really hard to see how ESPN would put VT in a prime time game coming off a 7-6 season. It could have been a 3-9 season had they not won 3 games in overtime. But it is still a big game for Tech, if they can somehow pull off the upset, the sky will be the limit. The Hokie Nation can dream and that is the beauty of college football. Just be ready for that game in Atlanta on Sept 26.
1:30 AM would be a good start time for the Bama/Hokie game. That way fewer people nationwide would see the Hokie humiliation resulting in less overall embarrassment for the state of Va. and theTech program.
I don’t see any reasonable cause for complaint about a 5:30 Saturday kickoff. It’s nationally televised. Any perspective at all would allow for the game not having as much allure as the UGa-Clemson matchup. It’s not like nobody watches college football at 5:30 on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. If we’d won 10 games and a BCS bowl game, then we could whine, but as it is, we probably should be thankful the pairing was scheduled prior to last season and not afterward.
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#2 HA, VCU has a heck of a team. I know some coaches that could learn a few things about offensive & defensive philosophy from Shaka Smart. They’ll certainly make the NCAA tourney. They are a fun team to watch.
Not to nitpick, Barry…but with one of the OT games being the bowl…had they lost the previous 2 OT games, they’d have been 4-8 and sitting at home. But the point you make is salient. I think, though, that Alabama alone would warrant a pimetime opener…but perhaps there is a better opening weekend matchup. I’ve not been able to find a schedule for the upcoming season though to check that.
Best slot for VT as far as I’m concerned. We weren’t getting the ABC slot since we won’t be ranked, and if it’s later we’re against that slot and dilute the national audience. Plus the whole family can enjoy a 5:30 kickoff!
Thanks OJ, you are correct. Even GT folks make a mistake.
The bama game is just a game, a chance to win and a chance to lose, if tech plays their best and gives 110% then the real fans will be happy. A win would be great, thats why they keep score, but to play up to bamas level would also be great. Ive been watching tech football since 1966, so i enjoy tech football, even when they lost to VMI. A chance to watch them on TV is a treat I’ll enjoy,I didn’t see them on tv much in the 60s or 70.s.. National exposure is good at any time. I did see them in the Liberty bowl against Archie Manning, they lost but played well.
I like the 5:30 start for a game. Nooners suck, because bourbon and bacon are hard to get down together, so you have to skip the bacon, and the 8:00 start can lead to a scary walk back to the hotel.
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The ideal start time, if you are attending a game, is 3:30. To me that is golden. You can pre-game and post-game something, be it tailgate, or go to restaurants in the area.
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I’m going to give away a secret for that game, to this blog crowd. If you go, try to stay at the Hyatt or Hilton – the rates really aren’t that bad. It is Ground Zero for this weird freak show called Dragoncon, on Labor Day weekend. It is the largest fantasy/sci-fi convention held each year. You have all of these adults, and a few kids, walking around in all sorts of weird costumes.
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Last time Tech played Alabama, I unknowingly booked a room at one of those hotels, because that was about all I could find. We get there, and see all of these people in the lobby (they stay dressed up in costume all weekend), and my first thought is ‘what the heck have I gotten us into?’
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As it turned out, there were a bunch of Alabama faithful there, and I got to talking to one of them, an older guy, of course, he was wearing a houndstooth hat.
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He told me to “pull up a chair, I’ll buy you a beer and you can enjoy the show – this is more entertaining than football.” He said he had come back to the same hotel from the year before. He had done the same thing the year before when ‘Bama played Clemson. He stumbled into the freak show, and said he wouldn’t miss it for anything. And, he was right.
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I’ve talked to Drake Britton a couple of times at Sox games, when he was charting pitches, and ironically, operating the radar gun. This episode doesn’t surprise me. Nice kid, but pretty immature. I’m just impressed he got a pickup truck up to 111 mph. He might have NASCAR as a fallback.
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As for Tech basketball, the misery is almost over. This is the most disappointing season I can remember . . . such a promising start, and then falling off a cliff.
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I just wonder what the ACC tournament ticket sales are looking like. When in Greensboro, it is not an equal alotment of tickets. NCSU, UNC, VT, and maybe Duke get a bigger piece of the coliseum. There is likely to be a big section of empty seats (and this year, VT is in a prime spot).
OJ, Bitter posted a list of the opening weekend games yesterday, I believe. The ‘prime time’ game is UGa/Clemson. There’s also an LSU/TCU matchup that most nationally would rank as more appealing than ours. LSU’s not as good as Bammer, but TCU was better than us last season, so more general interest there. The most interesting game would be the Dawgs & Clemson, though.
AMc, it’s been two-plus weeks and the boys in your IT dept still haven’t taken the (probably) ten minutes necessary to re-establish paragraph breaks on the blogs. I know that geeks don’t care about punctuation, but it’s just an indicator of the larger lack of attention shown online content by the RT.
How many weeks and complaining posts does it take for an extremely simple problem to be corrected? By the way, notice no paragraph break above?
CR, thanks…Those are definitely better or more intriguing matchups to be sure. Given VT’s track record in big opening-day games, neutral field games, and major bowls…I don’t think most of the nation wants to watch the Hokies get stomped again. I know I sure don’t. I’d love to see VT win, but I just don’t think it’ll happen.
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And yeah, I’ve send in several feedback comments related to the blogs and the site in general, and only one of them that I complained about has been fixed. The mobile web versions of the blogs aren’t enabled either…also an easy fix. The other issue with the mobile site is when I click an article, it starts loading then vanishes to a white screen with the NWS alert as the only text. That’s been going on for well over a week…brilliant.
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My overall traffic to the whole of roanoke.com is down a solid 50-75%. And except for this blog and the Weather Journal, I’ve basically quit using the rest of them except on very rare occasions.
Amac, I heard your boy, Berman, got called out last night by coach K. What did he do to upset Coach K?
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I have no problem with the 5:30 kickoff. That way when the Tech/Bama game is done, I can flip over to watch UGa/Clemson game. Since my father-in-law is a Clemson alum and fan, and if I’m at his house that weekend, I can sit with him and watch it with him. It’s always fun to see his reaction to Clemson. Clemson and Georgia are a study in contrast of playing philosophies. The Hurrying Tigers versus the Methodical Bulldogs. It’s should be a good one. The Tigers should be able to exploit the roster turnover on the Bulldogs.
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One big stunner yesterday came from the Big South Tournament. Longwood beat defending champion UNC-Asheville. Hello!
Started like a house on fire and ended with a whimper. There are many things wrong with this BB team this year, all duly noted in the blogs, but the thing that frustrates me is the stupid turnovers this team commits. You have to know your limitations which this team seems to have trouble recognizing. Eddie, Rankin and Brown are marginal ballhandlers and passers at best but still they get themselves in situations that produces turnovers. This team has a lot of work to do before next season. JJ could do what I use to have kids do, take a basketball with them everywhere they go and dribble in the street, on the sidewalk, sleep with it, just handle it all day. You would be amazed how it increases your ball handling skills. I noticed last night how winded Rankin was after his time on the floor. He’s out of shape! He was sucking wind like he had been in the whole game, which he hadn’t. Lots and lots of work required in the coming year and definitely a culture change.
Barry…my grandparents would say the main mistake a GT grad made was deciding to go there! They’re huge UGA fans…but had I still lived in my native Georgia, I would have gone there. Solid school.
I presume the earlier VT kickoff time is to allow LSU/TCU (live from Jerryworld) to have the evening slot. I like that they will not be on at the same time — by the time August 31 rolls around, I’ll be craving live football all day that day.
I doubt if ESPN thought Tech would be 7-6 when they scheduled this one. They probably wish they`ed signed up Texas A&M but who knew Touchdown Tommy would win the Heisman? Also, not being pessimistic, but there is less chance of a blow out and people checking out at halftime with UGA/Clemson .ESPN could be thinking Tech has a lot of questions to answer or they might be thinking-Weaver doesn`t want us on Thursday night, we don`t want him on prime time. Regardless, our game does have one thing the UGA/ Clemson doesn`t-shots of the Alabama QB`s girlfriend in the stands.
Not sure, Trevor. I wasn’t at the press conference and haven’t had a chance to see him yet. But I love me a good Berman story. What’ve you heard?
Don’t forget: Asheville’s getting the Rowsey reinforcement next year.
I’ll inform IT that the frustration is building.
Correction, AMc – the frustration has been at a high level for over two weeks. While speaking to the geek squad, be sure to ask them which part of the two words – customer service – they don’t understand. My guess is that both words are foreign concepts to them.
Coach K asked Berman if he was still a “back to reality” guy?
Crooked Road, can’t blame you for being angry with the IT Dept. . I wouldn’t fault you or be upset if you and your Webster dictionary left and went to another site. RT should cater to you more than they do. Right?
Amac, not sure what happened. Saw a couple of tweets about Coach K calling out Berman, but not sure what transpired. Perhaps it have something to do with Berman being snarky about there’s other ACCPOY guards than what’s on Puke’s squad? I don’t know. I wish somebody had transcribed it.
I don’t know folks, my IT problems seemed to have disappeared. Maybe you need to upgrade your hardware and software. Just sayin.
Crooked Road, I have an idea for you to consider. Since nothing in the VT sports world ever suits you and now the RT blog does not meet your standards, how about if you switch over to another site?? I believe one of the UVa sites would suit you perfectly. You like to use the big, fancy words which would appeal to those UVa fans and your desire to make everyone think you are smarter and know everything is a characteristic many of the UVa folks have as well. Seems like a perfect fit to me.
I don’t for a minute believe you are a Hokie any way. If you were, I believe once in a blue moon you could find something positive to say about someone affiliated with VT athletics. Yessir I believe you are a Hoo and here is a site for you.- the sabre.com
Those folks will love you, your Webster dictionary, and your know it all attitude.
+1 For Ralph @ 21!
danny, here’s an idea for you. How about you stop being such a little girl, and you actually provide the info I requested when I called you out and slapped you in the face over it? How about you actually man up for a change? How long do I need to keep my boot on your neck before you squirt out a legitimate response?
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Provide the link that I think you made up, or at the very least misconstrued to avoid the context. I don’t think you’re enough of a little boy, much less a man, to do so. Prove me wrong, little danny.
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You’ve yet to be man enough to provide anything other than whimpering slaps in an attempt to defend something you’ve no concept of, as though they needed your limp support. Flail about all you like, it proves nothing.
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You can continue to Taylor Swift me, in your obsession with my posts, but it only proves your own weakness. Why not try some time, some day, to bring something to the table. Keep stalking, little girl. Like Taylor Swift, maybe it juices you in your world, but it does little elsewhere.
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Still waiting for the substance…
danny, I know two-syllable words test the limits of your cognizance – that means ‘understanding’, danny, which I know is also a really big word for you. Maybe you can get your granddaughter to explain it to you, so that you might understand it. Perhaps she has some crayons around to color it in a pretty picture for you.
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Good luck on all that.
So Crooked Road, does that mean you didnt like my suggestion?
So, danny, I see you’re still too gutless to address the real truth. Instead you want to hide behind the ruffles & lace of tangents. How many times do I need to slap you in the face and bugger your women before you step out and answer my question?
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A normal request never works, and now it seems that even squeezing you like the pimple you are doesn’t pop the answer from you. I know you’re limited in your mental capacity, and that big words like ‘understanding’ are well beyond your… umm… ‘brain limit’ – maybe you can understand that, I have trouble dumbing it down far enough to your level. Hope that one works. Maybe I can find a kindergarten dropout to offer the right phrase…